Corker meets Trump, downplays possibility he’ll be VP

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said he had no reason to think he was being considered for vice president after meeting on Monday in New York with Donald Trump.

Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, didn’t rule out serving as Trump’s vice presidential candidate or in his Cabinet, but characterized his meeting with the presumptive GOP presidential nominee as a getting-to-know-one-another session.

{mosads}”I have no reason whatsoever to think that I am being considered” for vice president, Corker told reporters outside Trump Tower.

“This was a meeting between two people who didn’t know each other except over phone calls, getting to know one another.”

Corker said the two men talked about China and Russia during their meeting. He said he believes allies and rivals of the United States are taking note of Trump’s rise — something Corker characterized as a positive.

“The fact that he’s challenging so many status quo; he’s causing these countries to think a little bit differently about the U.S. I say that in a positive way,” he said.

Corker has been seen as warming to Trump, praising the billionaire businessman’s speech last month in Washington in which Trump outlined his “America first” foreign policy views.

Trump has indicated that he wants someone with political experience as his vice president to supplement his business background.

Corker has been a central figure in policy negotiations with the Obama administration in recent years, emerging as a key critic to the Iran nuclear deal.

He declined earlier this month to rule out the possibility of joining Trump’s White House ticket, telling the controversial businessman’s detractors to “chill.”

–Jesse Byrnes contributed to this report, which was updated at 1:43 p.m.